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Where will the VAR centre be located during World Cup 2018?

Former three-time World Cup referee Oscar Ruiz, currently member of the CONMEBOL Referees Committee, spoke to Planeta Fútbol of Antena 2 about the implementation of the VAR at the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the preparation of the Colombian referees at the seminars in Qatar and Dubai. "Qatar has had several seminars for referees, they promote the sport a lot, not only in refereeing, but in various modalities. I was in Qatar for a month, where there were seminars for the candidates to the men’s and women’s World Cups", said the former Colombian referee. "In the Emirates, there will be another seminar for the candidate referees that will be divided into two groups. The first group that will travel are the CAF, CONCACAF and CONMEBOL delegations, then the AFC, OFC and UEFA. For Colombia, a team headed by Wilmar Roldan and the assistants Alexander Guzmán and Cristian de la Cruz travelled last Friday, 9 March, to allow time to prepare for the fitness test for the World Cup in Russia", said Ruiz. "The VAR at the World Cup in Russia will work following the protocol used in the communication center from Germany, there will also be an AVAR, which are the assistants in the short list that will be behind the screens. They will have direct communication with the referee to make a decision and stop the game when needed", said the 48-year-old former referee. On the other hand, Ruiz spoke about the arrival of the VAR to Colombia. "With time it will appear, not only in Colombia but in important leagues, but it is a process, which not only involves human material, but also technology. There must be a communication center with technical guarantees for the development of the VAR that is not done from one day to the next day; there is a protocol that must be followed. South America is one of the confederations that went ahead with the implementation", concluded Ruiz, who refereed at the 2002, 2006 and 2010 World Cups. (Source: Antena 2)

In Bundesliga, the video assistant referees sit for all matches at a specialized centre in Koln. "There are no plans for VARs to be located in Germany", said FIFA. President Gianni Infantino said after the general approval of the introduction of video assistant referees by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) at the beginning of March in Zurich that the VARs will work at the World Cup in Moscow, where the referees will have their headquarters during the tournament. The FIFA Council will meet on Friday in Bogotá and will advise on the deployment of VAR for the World Cup. A consent of the committee, according to the DFB President Reinhard Grindel, is considered safe. The FIFA boss is a big supporter of the video campaign; however, the prerequisite for the approval is that Infantino "gives us the confidence that the workshops and technical preparations are sufficient for the referees to properly implement the requirements of the IFAB protocol", said Grindel. "It is also important that the referee teams are composed in such a way that clear communication is guaranteed", emphasized Grindel. The Confederations Cup last year in Russia - as well as the Bundesliga - had some breakdowns. (Source: TZ)